Meet the 3 Nicaraguan siblings behind SF's popular Martha & Bro's Coffee
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at ABC7, we're bringing you inside a local business with a legacy of love and family.
ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena shows us the deep roots of San Francisco coffee shop Martha and Bro's.
For almost four decades, San Franciscans have raved about Martha and Bro's Coffee.
"The coffee is fantastic. It's top-notch. I don't know where else you can go to find a better cup," said a Martha and Bro's customer.
Many customers love the coffee, but many don't know the faces or story behind the name -- until now.
"My name is Martha, and these are my siblings, Jaime and Patricia," said Martha Guerrero Monroy, who owns Martha & Bro's Coffee Company with Jaime and Patricia.
In the first five minutes of sitting with Martha, Jaime and Patricia, their love for each other was evident. They are the three youngest of eight siblings.
"I'm the oldest, then my sister Patricia, and he is the baby," said Martha, while pointing to her brother Jaime, adding, "He is always going to be the baby. The youngest."
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Being reminded that he is the youngest took Jaime back to how the business started.
"We haven't done this in a long time and just thinking about it right now, putting it in the perspective, right? Of what we have done over the years," Jaime said.
From an early age, coffee has always been a key part of their daily lives. The Guerrero siblings remember drinking coffee before going to school in Nicaragua.
"I remember drinking coffee since I was 6 years old. Our mother loved coffee," Patricia said.
"My mom would say: 'You have to have your coffee before you go to school. I want to make sure that you stay awake and not fall asleep,'" Jaime said.
Martha, Patricia and Jaime spent every summer learning everything about coffee.
"My uncle had three plantations of coffee in the state of Matagalpa, which is the land for coffee in Nicaragua," Jaime said.
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Little did they know, they were training for their future as Martha and Patricia moved to the U.S. first with a dream.
"My dad said Martha, you need your business and I'm going to help you with one condition... you to help your siblings and for anyone who comes from Nicaragua to have a job," Martha said. "So, in 1987, I opened with my sister, Patricia."
"We got a roaster, and we started roasting our beans. It was like a dream that we were living. The three of us, it was a dream," Patricia said.
Martha was always reminded of the promise she made to her dad.
"We opened the business, grew fast," she said. "Then it was time to make other business for the money that came. Which was for him. We opened another one and then this one is run by my sister and I. Then we opened another one in Bernal Heights. We work 24/7 but it's worth it. It's unity."
"It was very successful from the beginning because she has that personality. That charisma. Always smiling," Jaime said.
That unity is what their dad Aquiles always wanted them to treasure, even naming the business early on as a reminder.
"That was my dad," Patricia said. "You cannot say Martha brothers and sisters. So you can resume it to brothers because brothers means this, it means brothers and sisters."
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Their first location on 24th Street is now one of four, with coffee beans from Nicaragua and all across Latin America.
Luz Peña: "What makes your coffee so good?"
Martha: "Smooth, strong and full of.."
Jaime: "Love."
Love is the ingredient in every cup and the secret to their success in the U.S.
"To me, it's like a dream come true. People from Nicaragua," Jaime said. "I can't ask for anything more. I wouldn't change it with nobody. Proud to be a Latino."
Now they are training the next generation.
"We are at this stage of time what we would love is to pass all this energy to our kids," Patricia said.
It's a legacy that lives through their coffee, their name and their love for each other.
"We want the same success for the next one," Jaime said. "What works for me in my coffee I share with you. Staying on the same level and doing everything equally as brothers and sisters. Brothers: Hermanos. Knowing that would put a giant smile on my dad's and mom's face."
Luz Peña: "What would your dad say to you guys today?"
Martha: "My dad would say: 'Well done Martha, you did what I asked you and you helped your siblings and that is what it's about.'"
